Theatre program produces ‘Working’
Actors and actresses pose for a picture during the after school rehearsal for the fall play. These actors and actresses are bringing our working community to the stage and are excited to share their talents with it.
October 23, 2022
Stillwater’s working community is now starring in this year’s fall play “Working”. It is a book adapted into a musical by Stephan Schwartz. “Working” is now being localized to the community of Stillwater and will be performed in the auditorium. This performance will shine a spotlight on the hopes, dreams, disappointments and joys of community workers. Viewers can catch this upcoming production on Nov. 4-5 and 10-12 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 6 at 2 p.m.
“Working” which was originally published in 1974 and later adapted into a musical 4 years later, focuses on America’s working class of all statuses.
Director Grif Sadow explained why he chose this musical, “It’s a really bright piece for a hundred kids or twenty kids. All different types of background or experience and I thought it would be a good opportunity for freshmen to get involved, as well as our upperclassmen.”
Sadow has obtained the right to make changes to the script and with it decided to focus the plot around Stillwater’s workers instead of the original characters written.
Thanks to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to alter the original script, Stillwater craftsmen, waiters, entrepreneurs, teachers and many more will be able to tell their stories through monologues and songs inspired by them.
Sadow has given young casted actors and actresses a chance to find employees that are willing to be interviewed and talk about their work life. When exploring who to interview, they look at what their childhood was like, what inspired them to go into their career, and what their job is like on a day-to-day basis.
Once interviews are completed, they will vigorously begin to create a script surrounding these stories. Once that is done all that is left to do is memorize and practice the scenes and songs. It sounds easy enough, but in reality, it is a much more tedious process.
A lot of times we go through life, and we just relate to people as their role and what they do for a living. We forget there’s a person behind that with a story to tell. This musical will impact our community in a different way than past productions, it will connect us.
— Grif Sadow
Junior Mallory Otsuka explained that it is a more serious task getting to play actual people unlike made-up characters with big cheesy smiles and jazz hands.
Even though all productions are overseen by the director, this one will be more “student lead” Otsuka said.
“We have a basic outline of what the script might look like, but we don’t know where the monologues will be put yet. So we just have not really done any read-through of the actual script,” senior William McDonough said.
The actors have the chance to give their inputs on monologues and characters as the script develops with new interviews coming in weekly.
Even though this musical choice is far more difficult than any previous piece, it just means the result will be even better.
“A lot of times we go through life, and we just relate to people as their role and what they do for a living. We forget there’s a person behind that with a story to tell. This musical will impact our community in a different way than past productions, it will connect us,” Sadow said. “A lot of times we go through life, and we just relate to people as their role and what they do for a living. We forget there’s a person behind that with a story to tell.”
Grace Cheney • Nov 12, 2022 at 4:22 pm
I really like how this article is all about the community and local workers. I think it is really neat how the director got the opportunity to alter the script so that the play is about workers in Stillwater. I think the quotes by Grif Sadow show lots of depth and emotion and really show that everyone has a story to tell. Even our local workers right here in Stillwater. This article makes me want to go see this play right now.